Cross purposes

I mentioned it in a post today at DetNews, but I wasn't that inclined to make an issue out of McCain's cross in the dirt story, even though Hilzoy's latest find makes a compelling case that it's fiction. I figured that it's a time honored tradition for old war vets to make up stories about their heroic deeds.

But Andy Sullivan makes a good case for giving it more attention.

And why are we not allowed to ask these questions, when they relate to one of the most important questions anyone can ask about a president: the question of integrity? If McCain has fabricated a religious epiphany for political purposes, it is about as deep a betrayal of core integrity as one can imagine, and the latest example of how pernicious the religious domination of political life in America has become.

The integrity angle is obvious. I pound that point often but to the extent that it gives legitimacy to the demands of the extreme religious rightwingers, it does serve as a useful illustration of how disportionate an influence such a statitiscally small group has on our political process.


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